This week's full Moon (Oct. 25-26) is the biggest full Moon of 2007.
It's no illusion. Some full Moons are genuinely larger than others
and Thursday night's will be as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter
than lesser full Moons we've seen earlier this year.

SPACESHIP SIGHTINGS: Space shuttle Discovery launched this morning
from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on a two-week mission to the
International Space Station (ISS). This means sky watchers should be
alert for spaceship flybys in the nights ahead. Both Discovery and
ISS will make favorable passes over many US cities with the
possibility of double flybys later this week when the two spacecraft
are about to dock. Subscribers to Spaceweather PHONE
(http://spaceweatherphone.com) will receive email and telephone
alerts of flybys in viewing range of their hometowns.

ERUPTING COMET: Astronomers in Japan and Europe report that Comet
17P/Holmes is undergoing a spectacular eruption. The 17th-magnitude
comet has brightened by a factor of five hundred thousand or more
during the past 24 hours becoming a naked eye object in the evening
sky. This may signify a breakup of the comet's core or a rich vein of
ice suddenly exposed to sunlight--no one knows. Look for a yellow
2.5th-magnitude fuzzball in the constellation Perseus after sunset.
("2.5th magnitude" means a little dimmer than the stars of the Big
Dipper.) At present the comet looks more like a star than a comet; it
does not have a discernable tail, but it might grow one as the
outburst continues.

NASA

Applications are currently being accepted for the 2008 CanSat
Competition. Applications are due Oct. 31, 2007.
Download the application, visit:
<http://www.cansatcompetition.com/Main.html>http://www.cansatcompetition.com/This annual competition is open to university students from the
United States, Canada and Mexico. Teams of 2-10 students are required
to design and build a space-type system called a CanSat. Each CanSat
is the size of a soda can and must be built according to the
specifications released by the competition organizing committee.
Participants are involved in the end-to-end life cycle of a complex
engineering project, from conceptual design, through integration and
test, actual operation of the system, and the conclusion with a
post-mission summary and debriefing.
All teams entering the CanSat competition are required to have a
faculty adviser. The faculty adviser shall oversee and be responsible
for the conduct of the team at all times during the competition and
is strongly encouraged to accompany the team to the competition.